Washington -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The top Senate Republican on Tuesday laid out a hard-line negotiating stance on upcoming budget battles , rejecting any tax increases and demanding `` significant '' reforms in exchange for his vote to raise the debt ceiling .

`` We 're going to require as a condition for raising the debt ceiling something really important about the debt , '' Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell , R-Kentucky , told reporters .

Without providing specifics , McConnell said it would take `` something the markets would view as significant , something the American people would view as significant , something foreign countries would view as significant '' in order for him to vote to increase how much the United States can borrow .

Congress must reach an agreement on the debt ceiling before the United States reaches its legal borrowing limit of $ 14.29 trillion .

McConnell said the Treasury Department has indicated the nation would reach its debt ceiling `` sometime between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July . ''

He called for `` something real , something measurable '' that will begin to reduce the national debt .

McConnell also made clear that he opposes generating more revenue through higher taxes to tackle the deficit and debt problems .

`` From my point of view , taxes are not on the table because we do n't have a revenue problem , we have a spending problem , '' McConnell said .

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor , R-Virginia , suggested mandatory caps on government spending and a balanced budget amendment as possible reforms to accompany a measure raising the debt ceiling .

`` We 're only talking about doing this if we can be assured there are guarantees in place that spending does n't get out of control again , '' Cantor said of allowing more borrowing by the federal government .

A few minutes after McConnell spoke , Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nevada , noted that Republicans and Democrats have widely differing views on how best to strengthen the nation 's fiscal situation .

Reid accused Republicans -- including House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan , R-Wisconsin , who has released a 2012 budget proposal -- of seeking to protect the wealthy and their special interests .

`` The only thing Republicans fought to protect were the richest of the rich , '' Reid said of last week 's budget negotiations on a spending plan for the rest of the current fiscal year .

`` It is clear once again that the two parties ' priorities are significantly different , '' Reid said of Ryan 's proposal , adding it would provide no help for the middle class .

Obama , who is presenting his long-term debt reduction plan on Wednesday , should address inequities in the tax code that benefit moneyed interests , Reid said , calling for a halt to subsidies for oil companies and deductions for companies that transfer jobs overseas .

Reid also said additional revenue must be part of any long-range fiscal solution . He did n't give specifics , but Democrats generally favor increasing the tax rate for families earning more than $ 250,000 a year to the levels of the 1990s , before tax cuts implemented by the Bush administration .

In addition , Reid rejected the contention that reforming Social Security must be part of deficit reduction strategy , saying : `` That has nothing to do with the deficit . Zero . Social Security has not contributed one penny to the deficit . ''

As Washington battles over spending cuts , the Treasury Department reported Tuesday that the deficit for the first six months of the 2011 fiscal year has reached $ 829.4 billion .

According to the latest monthly figures from Treasury , in March the federal government took in $ 150.9 billion , but outlays were $ 339 billion , for a monthly deficit of $ 188.2 billion .

That 's slightly better than the $ 222.5 billion deficit in February , probably because the looming tax filing deadline increased receipts .

Sen. Joe Lieberman , an independent from Connecticut who is part of the Democratic caucus , said the deficit issue requires a comprehensive approach in which `` everyone is going to have to take some loss . ''

`` We ca n't keep spending a trillion and a half more every year than we 're bringing in , even though it 's hard now to say we have to cut these programs , '' Lieberman said . `` If we do n't begin to do that , and at some point think about raising taxes , the whole American economy will come close to collapse . ''

CNN 's Scott Spoerry , Deirdre Walsh , Ted Barrett and Tom Cohen contributed to this story .

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NEW : Rep. Cantor suggests mandatory spending caps and a balanced budget amendment

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Sen. McConnell rejects any tax hikes and demands `` significant '' reforms

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Sen. Reid says Republicans only want to protect the very wealthy

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President Obama will lay out his long-term deficit reduction plan Wednesday